Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Humans ; Physicians

BACKGROUND: There was a powerful earthquaken(Richter Scale 7.6) in Tiawan, on Sep. 21, 1999. we supported the organized medical services in that area during 5 days. METHODS: We made the protocol and analyzed the results prospecitively. RESULTS: We took care of a total of 708 patients from sep. 23 to sep. 27. Traumatized patients related to the earthquake were 245(34.6%), and most of them had minor injuries. Two hundred thirty-nine(239, 33.8%) patients visited us for medical disease related to living in a group. There were 29(4.1%) patients who complained of neuropsychiatric problems due to the post-earthquake stress. Because the condition of the patients was so bad, 18(2.5%) were transferred to receive more medical services. CONCLUSION: In disaster area, organized medical services have two different roles, especially in the subacute stage. One is responsibility for real emergency medical care, and the other is medical care of non-emergency patients.
Disasters* ; Earthquakes* ; Emergencies ; Humans ; Taiwan*

Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Patient Care Team

Craniocerebral Trauma ; Earthquakes ; Head ; Humans

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to construct and test a structural equation model of posttraumatic growth (PTG) of earthquake victims based on Tedeschi and Calhoun's model (2004). METHODS: Data were collected from 195 earthquake victims living in K. City. The exogenous variables include distress perception, resilience, and social support, and the endogenous variables include intrusive rumination, deliberate rumination, and posttraumatic growth. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and structural equation modeling were performed. RESULTS: The modified model showed a good fitness to the data. Moreover, 6 of the 9 paths of the final model were statistically significant, which include PTG affected by deliberate rumination (β=.58, p<.001), resilience (γ=.18, p=.001), and distress perception (γ=.20, p=.002). These predictors explain 51.8% of variance in posttraumatic growth. CONCLUSION: Based on the results of this study, it is necessary to develop and disseminate preventive intervention programs to increase the resilience of earthquake-prone communities. In addition, after exposure to a community-scale traumatic event such as earthquake, we should provide social supports to alleviate distress perception and transition from intrusive rumination to deliberate rumination so that we can seek new meaning from the earthquake and facilitate posttraumatic growth.
Earthquakes ; Resilience, Psychological ; Statistics as Topic

China ; Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Emergency Medical Services ; Otolaryngology

Dentists ; Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Humans ; Oral Surgical Procedures

Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Humans ; Maxillofacial Injuries ; therapy

China ; Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Humans ; Oral Medicine

This article is to explore how to participate disaster medical rescue. Specific cases, concerned experiences and effects obtained from the big earthquake occurred in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province May 12, 2008 were presented for researching consideration. According to conclusion of this report, it is urgently necessary and vitally important for stomatologists to study disaster medicine rescue.
Disaster Medicine ; Disasters ; Earthquakes ; Humans ; Oral Medicine